Blog Post #3

Peer editing is one thing that I have a lot of experience with since I have picked English as my subject area. After watching these videos and looking at the slide show, I have realized that there are some things I need to make sure to remember when editing someone else's paper.

I think that one of the most important parts of peer editing is making sure to leave compliments on your peers' work instead of just criticism. If all you do is leave negative comments on someone's work, it will only discourage them when they continue writing. Being specific when telling the author how to improve their work is important. Giving him or her specific ways on how to improve is more productive than just saying something like "this paragraph needs work." When editing someone's paper, we need to keep in mind that there is a right and wrong way to give criticism. This goes back to giving compliments on someone's paper. Making sure not to be rude when making comments is important. We have to keep in mind that this is someone's paper that they worked hard on, so being rude is unnecessary. Also, since this is someone else's work, we have to be sure not to be pushy with our suggestions. Trying to change someone's paper is not what peer editing is about.

Blog Post #2

The main thing I took away from the Dancealot video is how not to effectively teach students. The video shows us that we cannot expect students to learn something like how to dance by just watching power points. In order for students to learn how to dance, they must be able to practice in order to get better. When you try to teach students without demonstrating what you're teaching, they can quickly become bored and lose focus on what you're teaching. This theory applies to other subject matters other than just teaching students how to dance. Engaging students is one of the only ways they will truly learn what you're trying to teach. Technology is one thing that is increasing rapidly. In the Teaching in the 21st Century video, Roberts suggests that teaching will be completely based on technology in the future. I agree that technology is very important in education, but it is still our jobs as teachers to make sure that the students are using technology in the right ways. It is our job to interpret some of the things that they find on Google if they are still unclear of the meanings. We need to continue to guide our students because not everything they need to know can be found on the internet.

The Networked Student concept is different, but interesting. The students are essentially teaching themselves, while they have a teacher as more of a guide. The work their way through an online collaborative page where they share ideas with other students on that page. Whether the teacher is simply a guide or someone to ask questions to, we all have the same goal: to ensure students succeed. I think that Vicky Davis' ideals of teaching are appropriate for middle and high school students. Her ideals state that if students have a question about something, they should look to the internet for the answer. I think this is a good practice for secondary level students because most of them do this already. I know if I don't know the answer to something or the exact definition of a word, I pull out my phone and google it. I think that elementary students still need a little more guidance and help from us as teachers before they should completely rely on the internet. I think the Flipping the Classroom concept is brilliant. Having the students look at the information online before it is covered in class can help them understand. This way, they can get a feel for the information for themselves before it is taught and they can come up with their own questions they may have. Since all of the students will already know a little something about what is going to be taught, the students should be more engaged in class the next day when the material is taught.

Practice Blog Post

My name is Kayla Busby and I am majoring in secondary education with a concentration in English. I live in Irvington, Al which is only about ten minutes from Mobile. I live with both of my parents and my little brother, Austin, who will be a senior at Murphy High School this upcoming school year. I have lived in the same house my entire life, except living in the dorms for a semester at Troy. I only attended Troy University for a semester before I decided to transfer back home to South. I originally started off as a Criminal Justice major then quickly switched over to Radiology. Once I realized that Science and I do not get along, I decided to pursue education. Secondary Education has always been in the back of my mind as an option. English is by far my favorite subject, and I have never had an English teacher I did not enjoy. It is my goal to be one of these teachers. I recently was promoted to an Assistant Manager at Lotus Boutique where I have worked for the past year and a half. I love working and connecting with my customers. When I am not working or doing school work, Netflix is my go to hobby. It is my guilty pleasure that never gets old. One of my passions has always been horseback riding, although I do not get to go riding as often as I would like. Every summer my family takes at least one beach vacation. The beach is our happy place; where all of our worries and cares vanish. One day I hope to have a house at the beach so I can be by the water whenever I please. This is a picture that my dad took during our last beach trip.

It is taken from our favorite condo, Compass Point, in Gulf Shores, Al.

Blog post #1

There are many things that I have heard about EDM 310, and most of them were not positive. I have heard that it is a ton of work and that we do not get much feedback on all of the work we are doing. One thing I am nervous about with taking this class is how much attention and time it does require. My advisor told me to take this class when I do have more time to focus on it, which is why I am taking it right now. I did not think about how much faster the pace will be since it is during the summer semester, which is much shorter than the fall and spring semesters. So far, EDM 310 is the most time consuming class I have taken in my college career. I have never taken a class that requires us to keep a blog, so this is different. I've never had a blog before a couple of days ago. I think that the most difficult thing for me in this class will be the time management. The assignments do not look too difficult, there are just so many assignments due in such a short time period. I think that if I learn how to manage my time early on, then this class will not be too bad for me.

Post Two

This is my second post.

My Test Post Title

This is my First Post. I clicked the HTML button which I should always do in EDM 310. I am now a Blogger!